THE government is now bracing for the possible worst impact of El Niño, which is expected to hit the country by the last quarter of the year, by prioritizing the construction of water supply infrastructure in high-risk areas and initiating early water and power conservation efforts.
On Tuesday, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. met with officials of the Office of Civil Defense, National Irrigation Authority (NIA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and its attached agency the Philippine Atmospheric,
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to discuss ways to mitigate the effects of the long dry spell from El Niño.
He ordered the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) to create a team to coordinate government efforts and create protocols on El Niño response.
Infrastructure projects
OCD administrator Ariel F. Nepomuceno said among the President’s instructions was to fast-track the construction of infrastructures projects to increase water storage capacity in high risk areas.
Citing data from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), he said there are currently over 450 such projects nationwide.
“The President wants us to identify which [projects] should be given priority after PAGASA gave the possible [areas] which could immediately suffer the worst effects [of El Niño] namely Bataan, Cavite, and maybe Ilocos Norte,” Nepomuceno said in Filipino in a press conference in Malacañang last Tuesday.
National Irrigation Administration (NIA) acting administrator Eduardo G. Guillen said they are proposing the construction of high dams, which can be used both to address floods, and store water for droughts.
“If we have a series of dams in our major and principal river basins, we will no longer have any problem—when it floods as well as during El Niño. So, this is what the President is saying as a long-term solution,” Guillen said.
To boost the country’s preparedness for El Niño and future dry spells, he said they are also pushing for their funding to be increased to P100 billion per year, which they can use to reduce the period needed to irrigate 1.2 million hectares of land from 80 year to just 10 years.
He said they will be augmented by the initiatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as well as the private sector.
Other mitigation measures
Aside from new infrastructure, Nepomuceno said they are also working on a water-sharing arrangement between Metro Manila’s major water concessionaires to minimize the risk of water interruption in the region during El Niño.
The President also wants the launch of a public awareness campaign on water and electricity conservation as soon as possible to ensure the country will still have reliable utilities during El Niño, according to the OCD official.
He said Marcos also tasked the Department of Health (DOH) to prepare for the ailments that can spread during El Niño.
Guillen said interventions to help farmers cope with El Niño were also discussed during their meeting with Marcos.
He said measures include encouraging the affected farmers to plant hybrid rice, which have double outputs during dry season, as well as high-value crops.
Moderate El Niño
PAGASA deputy administrator Esperanza O. Cayanan said they expect the upcoming El Niño by this year will be “moderate.”
She noted it might be similar to El Niño in 2002 to 2003 marked by rainfall during the early parts of the year followed by a drought by November and December.
Based on its forecast this year, PAGASA expects a similar trend, wherein several tropical cyclones will enter the country from June to September before the dry spell in the last quarter of the year.
“But we are not discounting the possibility we can end up with a strong [El Niño],” Cayanan said.
She noted the last recorded strong El Niño affected the country from 2014 to 2016.
Nepomuceno said they have already taken into consideration the “worst case scenario” in their evidence-based El Niño preparations.
“It is better for us to prepare for the worst-case scenario, but we need it to be a scientific approach so DOST, particularly PAGASA, will play a big role in our actions,” Nepomuceno said.
Image credits: Suzanne June G. Perante